The thing is — Mandy is a 10 year old Belgian Malinois. Some may think it is silly to have a ceremony to honor a dog–but she is not just any canine. “They detect explosives and are able to find the IED’s and find them before they are detonated on our soldiers.”

Mandy, as well as other military working dogs, has saved lives overseas and stateside. “To us, the dogs are treated exactly like soldiers. Even in combat, they have the same status. If one of them is injured, we Medevac them the same as a soldier. They are basically one of us,” Maxwell explained.